There’s something deeply hopeful in the way Blood Orange has become one of the most celebrated and influential artists of his generation. It’s proof that a body of work built on bold, eclectic instincts can still resonate widely. Devonté Hynes has never confined himself to a single lane, something his wildly varied list of collaborators makes clear: Lorde, Skepta, Debbie Harry, Nelly Furtado, Yves Tumor, A$AP Rocky and Arca among others. Blood Orange moves through music history like someone crossing invisible borders, never nostalgic, always curious. One could argue that his sound has always been a collage rather than a genre: airy R&B, dreamy pop, post-punk, classical influences, and a distinctly New York sense of melancholy. But beneath the lush production and the shapeshifting aesthetics runs a clear line, a political and emotional dedication to telling stories about what it means to be black and queer in America today. That blend is vivid on his latest album “Essex Honey,” where Hynes returns to the place where he grew up, exploring his personal history with the precision of someone who knows that sound can hold what language can’t. And as always with Blood Orange, the result is something singular — a world impossible to mistake for anyone else’s. This summer at Way Out West, that world will unfold on stage.

Blood Orange will perform in Slottsskogen on Friday August 14th.